IP Updates

First to File Isn’t Always First to Finish: TGL’s Declaratory Action Dismissed in Trademark Dispute

Are General Cigar’s COHIBA Cigar Trademark Registrations Going Up in Smoke? Brief Answer – at least right now, based on a recent ruling from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the answer is “yes.” Many moons ago, I wrote a law journal article about a [...]

AI and Copyright Part Deux – D.C. Court of Appeals Rules that Artwork Autonomously Generated by an AI System is not Copyrightable

With the increasing development and use of AI systems for all manner of purposes, one question naturally arises in the intellectual property world – is artwork generated by AI systems copyrightable?  The answer, as with many legal questions, is that it depends.  In the instance under discussion, the person [...]

AI and Copyright – Court Finds That Training an AI Research Tool on Copyrighted Text is Copyright Infringement and Not a Fair Use

In a recent opinion out of the District of Delaware, Judge Stephanos Bibas revised an earlier decision and, in this instance, granted summary judgment in favor of copyright owner Thomson Reuters and against ROSS Intelligence in connection with ROSS Intelligence’s use of a number of copyrighted headnotes from the [...]

Using Your Competitor’s Name or Trademarks as Google Ad Keywords is not Necessarily Illegal

In an interesting and even slightly unnerving opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the appeals court ruled in a keyword advertising dispute that the keyword “conquesting” is not per se unlawful.  Keyword “conquesting” occurs when your competitor purchases your business’s name and/or trademark(s) [...]

Client Alert – U.S. Trademark Office Fee Increases Effective January 18, 2025

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is set to increase several trademark-related fees effective January 18, 2025. Specifically, filing fees will be standardized at $350 per class of goods or services. A notable change is introducing a $100 per class penalty if insufficient information is provided with [...]

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